Report: Coal mining and related jobs dropped during Trump administration

President Donald Trump talked of a revival in coal when campaigning for office in 2016 during a stop in Abingdon, Virginia to spur the industry and bring back jobs lost to environmental laws and major corporations diversifying their source for power.

A statistical review said the revival never came while Trump was in the White House.

Analysis compiled by S&P Global says coal jobs dropped 24 percent during the Trump administration beginning in the first quarter of 2017. The average number of coal miners in Appalachian states has also declined to below 10,000 workers as of December.

Despite the decline, the Energy Information Administration is projecting a 9 percent increase in coal production for 2021 but US power companies continue to use less coal and switch to cleaner alternatives like natural gas which currently generates 37 percent of the nation’s power supply.

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